Scolari Resigns After Tourney Failure

Brazil's coach Luiz Felipe Scolari walks on the pitch during a practice session at the Granja Comary training center in Teresopolis, Brazil, Thursday, July 10, 2014. Brazil will play on Saturday for the third place of the soccer World Cup. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Sao Paulo — Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari resigned after the team failed to win the World Cup, the Brazilian Football Confederation said Monday.

Scolari promised to win the tournament at home, but Brazil was eliminated in the semifinals by a disastrous 7-1 loss to eventual champion Germany that matched the national team’s worst defeat in its 100-year history. Brazil also lost 3-0 to the Netherlands in the third-place match.

Scolari’s contract ended after the World Cup and he handed over the command of the team after Saturday’s match, saying it would be up to the confederation to decide whether he would remain at the helm of the five-time world champions.

In a statement, the confederation said president Jose Maria Marin accepted what it called “Scolari’s resignation.”

“Scolari and his staff deserve our respect and our gratitude,” the statement said. “They were responsible for making the Brazilian people regain their love for the Selecao even though we did not reach our greater goal (of winning the title).”

Scolari’s replacement was not immediately announced. Assistant Carlos Alberto Parreira, the coach who led Brazil to the 1994 World Cup title, was also leaving.

Final Sets U.S. Ratings Mark

New York — With an estimated 26.5 million viewers, Sunday’s World Cup final stands as the most-watched soccer game in U.S. history.

The Nielsen company said Monday that 17.3 million people watched Germany beat Argentina 1-0 on ABC. An additional 9.2 million tuned in to the game on the Spanish-language Univision network.

That tops the 24.7 million who watched the U.S.-Portugal match earlier in the tournament, and the same number of people who saw the 2010 World Cup final between the Netherlands and Spain.

Germany Printed Stamps Early

Berlin — Germany’s Deutsche Post AG took a gamble on the outcome of the World Cup final — and it paid off.

Before the match even began, the former state monopoly had printed 5 million stamps commemorating Germany’s fourth World Cup title after 1954, 1974 and 1990.

Had Germany lost to Argentina, the stamps would have had to be pulped.

The two stamps were presented Monday, just hours after Mario Goetze’s late goal in extra time sealed Germany’s 1-0 victory.

The stamps were ordered by Germany’s Finance Ministry, which holds 21 percent of Deutsche Post’s shares through the state-owned KfW bank.